User Reviews

This was our first cruise. We were on the Carnival Triumph. We
had a lot of fun on both aboard the ship and the excursions. We
went with several other couples, and one of the couples were
Platinum members so we had access to a lot of information first
time cruisers would not have had without a lot of research!

The food was wonderful. Due to the issues the ship had, it has
been refit with the "2.0 upgrades". The dining room and staff were
wonderful. The food was awesome. The chocolate melting cake was
delicious (it was hard to try other deserts)! The ice cream cafe
was wonderful. The Casino was a lot of fun. They had table games
(poker, blackjack, etc...) as well as a wide variety of slot
machines from penny on up. The Lido deck was one big buffet. The
diet when to heck in a handbag on this ship.

The staff members on the ship are from all over the world.
English is not their first language and you might not be able to
get a lot of help from those not directly in customer

service.

We attended several shows and all were very well produced. The
adult comedy was hilarious. The main auditorium, which can seat
several hundred people, was well laid out.

The only real complaint I can say about the ship is it is not
handicap friendly (I suspect this is true of all cruise lines). My
girlfriend hurt herself and had to use a wheel chair towards the
end of the trip and there were a lot of places we could no longer
access. Unless you have the trip insurance, you will have to pay to
rent a chair.

If you want your picture taken, then this is the ship for you!
They were everywhere (This also got to be annoying after a
while).

Drinks are a bit pricey so be careful (but they are good!) If
you drink a lot of soft drinks, get the soda card. I will be taking
more cruises with Carnival!

We stayed in a suburb of Seattle for a few days before the
cruise, so we rented a car from the Dollar Rent a Car downtown
office (1900 Boren Ave, Seattle, 98101, 206-682-1316). When we
returned the car, they drove us to the cruise pier free of charge.
It took about 15 minutes to get to the pier from the car rental
office on Boren Ave. Plan lots of extra time to get to the pier as
the shuttle does not run on a regular schedule - only upon
"availability", which means when an extra employee has time in
between other stuff they are doing. (we ended up not having to wait
at all). Don't forget to fill your rental car with gas right before
returning.

Embarkation:

Arrived at the pier (Port of Seattle, Smith Cove Cruise
Terminal, Pier 91) at about 10:45am. The porters were not out yet
so we hauled our own luggage to baggage check in on the ground
level of the terminal and then took the escalator up to the check
in floor. We ran our carry-ons through the security scanner (just
like at an

airport except you don't have to take your shoes, belts and jackets
off and there is no limit on carry-on liquids). Check in was a
breeze as we had done the on-line registration (for the kid's clubs
as well) a few weeks previous. There was complimentary water and
lemonade available and a waiting area similar to an airport
terminal. After you check in, your given a card with a zone number
for boarding. We were in zone 3 and were onboard by 11:30am. The
buffet was open for lunch and it was fun to sit by the window and
look at the view of Seattle while eating. Our rooms were ready by
1:30. The mandatory safety muster was at 3:30. You do not have to
take your life vests with you (thank you!). There was no sail away
party like they have in the Caribbean so that was somewhat
anti-climactic. If you need to change a dining seating time you can
do so at the entrance to the dining room. Go and do this as early
as possible as there will be a long line later on. You can tour the
spa/gym and kidâ€TMs club areas.

Stateroom:

We had an outside stateroom #1148 on deck 1 with a big window.
Our steward was very friendly but we rarely saw him and areas of
our room were very dusty when we first arrived. I had to ask him
twice to dust the phone, and TV area, and to give us clean glass
goblets (all three of these things had several weeks worth of dust
caked on (it was pretty disgusting). Finally, the next morning, I
taped a note to our bathroom mirror requesting this again and he
finally obliged). Other than that, our room was perfectly made up
every morning while we were at breakfast and every evening while we
were at dinner.

There were four of us in this cabin (my husband and I and our
two sons ages 10 and 13). My husband and I had a queen bed, one son
was in an upper bunk and one son was in the bed/couch under the
bunk. The beds for our sons were left out during the day which
worked well for us as they liked to lounge there whenever we
stopped by our room. There was one beach towel in our room (which
we never used as it was an Alaska cruise) and there were shampoo
and body wash dispensers in the shower and small soap bars for the
sink. There was ample storage space for our clothes (we kept our
suitcases under the queen size bed and used them as clothes
hampers). There is only one outlet for your use (at the
desk).

We always bring an extension cord so we can charge up multiple
electronics each night. We also bring our own lighted digital clock
as the cabin does not provide one. The extension cord comes in
handy so that the clock can be closer to our bed). There is a hair
dryer provided in the top drawer and it is permanently plugged in
right there in the drawer. A couple months before we leave on a
cruise, my husband always saves his dry cleaning wire hangers and
we bring them with us (and just leave them there when we disembark)
as there are never enough hangers in the closets. I also bring the
following to make our stay more comfortable and easier - a small
spray bottle of fabric Febreze (for jackets, jeans that you might
wear a couple times, ect., pads of paper and tape (to tape notes to
the mirror for family), extra pens, highlighter for daily schedule
(on Carnival it's called "Fun Times", door decorations (makes it
easier to spot our cabin

My husband and I recently cruised on the Conquest for our
honeymoon. We had a great time and the staff were beyond
accommodating; however, we were shocked by the number of
unsupervised children there were on the ship. It would be
beneficial, in my opinion, for Carnival to put forth more of an
effort to separate families from couples. It was not pleasant to
have children screaming and throwing temper tantrums in the halls
while trying to sleep.

Another complaint is that there is not a swimming area that is
designated for adults and there is no adult only entertainment
until 10 p.m. I realize that cruising may be more pleasant if done
during the school year; however, that is not an option for those of
us who are school teachers.

All and all, we enjoyed our experience and made the most of it.
The excursions were well worth the money, our stateroom was
immaculately cleaned daily, and anything that we needed was at our
disposal. We will cruise Carnival again.

We have cruised on this ship about 4 times and always have a
good time. This time was a little different. The room attendants
did not introduce themselfs until we cornered them in our room on
afternoon while they were "cleaning?"

The glasses for the ice bucket were not changed out daily, the
beds were worn out. They took our robes we left sinde they were wet
from the spa, but refused to give up replacement ones ! What the
heck??

The dining was good, the food great, and service terrific! The
same old shows, need new material.

The captain did take 3 hours to dock at Costa Maya, due to high
winds and sea. He could have just not stopped but kept trying and
they stayed in port an extra hour to make up for the delay for
excursions could be taken as planned.

We travelled on the Carnival Magic July 7-14,2013. We were not
impressed at all because of the mediocre service from the cabin to
the dining room. When we first arrived at our cabin it had trash
from the previous guest. If questions were brought to guest
services, there was an I don't care attitude.

The head waiter at out table for dinner was not pleasant. He
rushed us to order and we felt as if we were annoying him if we
needed service. The assistant waiters were great.The food was food
until Wednesday night. That is when is went downhill. Nothing
tasted delicious.

Our children did enjoy the water park.it was great.

The two shows that we were able to see we're just okay. Other
shows on the ship were in the club areas that could not accommodate
all those that wanted to attend. So we were told to come back at
the next showing, but the other thousands of people that were
turned away would also try to return, so we gave up.

I was waiting for an announcement for the chocolate buffet, but
it never came. My daughter over heard

other passengers talking about it and that was the only way we knew
about it.

Another thing that was not advertised was lunch in the Italian
restaurant on Lido deck. We thought we had to pay extra for that,
but again we heard other guest discussing how they ate free for
lunch each day there.

I will say that the excursions to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and
Cozumel were fantastic. Overall the service, food and
accommodations was not worth what we paid for this cruise.

Our family will not be traveling on the Carnival Magic ever
again. When the Carnival Conquest sailed from Galveston, service
and food was excellent.

Just returned from an 8 day cruise on the Breeze and it was
spectacular!

The embarkation was the quickest that we have had. Miami
definitely has their act together. I must say we are Platinum
members and do get priority boarding but this was the best we have
ever had. We where directed through security to a private lounge
where we where given our sail and sign cards and where escorted to
the ship within 15 minutes where our cabins where ready.

We had cabin 7316 and it was very nice and our cain steward,
Linda, was fantastic. The cabin it self was 2 decks above one of
the hot tubs which made sitting on the balcony noisy at times but
still enjoyable.

The ship it self is beautiful and done in soft caribbean
colors.

There are numerous place to eat so we didn't find a problem with
lines. One of the hidden areas for breakfast is in deck 5 by the
coffee bar. Nice continental food along with eggs, hot cereals,
sliced meats, etc. Most passengers gravitate to the Lido deck which
can be very crowded for breakfast.

Make sure you try Guy's

Burgers at least once and if you like sushi go to the sushi place
on deck 5. You do pay but it is well worth it and you can get it to
go if there isn't any seating. We always dine one night in the
Steak House and as usual it did not disappoint.

We had late dining in the Sapphire Dining Room and had Lloyd and
his staff serve us. Very good food and excellent service.

We visited 4 ports and enjoyed all.

Grand Turk- There is a free beach as you get off the ship if you
do not want to book an excursion. It is great and since we where
the only ship there it was that crowed.

La Romana- We chose not to get off the ship but if you do you
will need to take either an excursion or find a way into the
city.

Curacao - The city is a short walk from the ship and is
beautiful, Don't miss the swinging bridge.

Aruba - We decided to take a bus tour of the island and did
enjoy it. As a matter of fact we plan to go back and spend a week.
Our friends went to a private island to swim, snorkel and there was
a water park there also.

In all we had 3 sea days. One at the beginning of the cruise and
two at the end and it was so enjoyable.

Debarkation was again easy. Love the luggage carousels, made
finding ours soooo easy.

My Carnival experience turned out to be the worst vacation of my
life and I have had some horrible ones. I should have known when my
father was going through the security check and they asked him for
his card. My father has Parkinson's and it takes him while
sometimes to be able to get an object in his hands. Instead of
asking "Can I help you with it?" the gentleman (and I use the term
most sarcastically) pushed my dad's wheelchair out of the way and
said â€œJust get out of the way. - I should have taken that as a
sign.

The trip only gets worse from there. The conditions of the boat
were horrible and the floors were often wet or coated in spilled
food in the dining rooms on the Lido deck. I complained that I have
slipped several times on the floor and the staff just shrugged at
me and continued their conversation. It wasn't until I fell and a
bunch of cruise goers had to help me up that the staff even took
notice to clean up what appears to be dressing I slipped

in spilled all over the floor. My nephew suffered cuts and bruises
on his knees because of the same indifference to safety.

We were part of a wedding party and supposed to be seated
together in the dinning room. This trip was planned for 9 months
ahead of time. Carnival inevitably screwed it up again and kept
bumping people off of our wedding party in the dining room causing
us to have to be split up for all but one night of the cruise.

One of the humiliating highlights of our dining experience was
when one of the members of my family ordered veal for dinner. It
came out so tough it was unable to be cut with a steak knife. She
asked the server if he could bring her another one because it was
too tough to eat. He started to make fun of her saying she needed
to put some muscle into it and did she know how to use a knife? She
was getting offended by his comments but the worst was yet to come.
He leaned over her and began to cut her food for her and even he
couldn't do it. She was about to leave the table she was so
embarrassed by the way she was spoken to and treated.

Finally, the disembarkation process was the worst. A porter was
supposed to arrive at our room to help us the morning of
disembarkation. This was part of the wedding party package that was
paid for. The night before we confirmed this with both Guest
Services and a supervisor because so much about this cruise was
screwed up. At 8:15, no porter. 8:30, no porter. We called and he
was on his way. 8.45, no porter. 9 am we called again and they sent
someone. We sat in the lobby for over an hour waiting to disembark
with our party. Guest Services lied and told us our party has
already left the ship and we needed to do the same when in fact we
were speaking to them on the phone and they said they were still
waiting to be taken to meet us. By that time, I called Carnival
customer service and loudly explained my situation to the customer
service manager. Amazingly, the staff (all 5 that were standing
around doing nothing but chatting with each other) were able to
help us. It still took another 45 minutes to get the rest of our
party (that was supposedly already off the boat) off the boat to
meet us.

Finally, once we were off the boat, we moved our bags and my
father in his wheelchair to a designated handicap pick up area and
I left to get the car. I returned to someone yelling, yes YELLING,
at my father to move out of the way that he wasn't supposed to be
there and he had to get all the bags and move NOW. Are you for
real?

With all of this drama going on, we had to contend with surly
crew members, a less than helpful Guest Services staff, rooms that
were either so cold my nephew had to sleep in two pairs of sweats
and a hoodie and socks or rooms so hot they were uninhabitable most
of the trip. The food was mediocre to poor at best and requests for
no cheese on burgers and small special requests were greeted with a
very poor attitude. We found the crew to be less than helpful and
acted as if it was an imposition to help or do their job. Many of
the crew were happier to stand around and converse than actually do
their jobs. Finally, there seemed to be a sewage issue in many of
the cabins for the entire trip. The smell permeated the hallways
and was very unpleasant. When I asked about this, the staff
shrugged at me and walked away.

There were some amazing staff members aside from the horrible
ones. The standout staff members were Ketut (our room attendant who
tried to fix the temperature issue desperately), the kids club
staff were excellent and always amazing to my nephew, and the
dining room staff of the Elation were pretty good. They had no hand
in the wedding seating disaster and made every accommodation to try
and seat the party together. The rest of the staff needs to be
replaced.

We were in a group of six, all of which has cruised several
times on Carnival. We sailed on the Carnival Valor Feb. 3-10,
2013.

We flew in a day early to Fort Lauderdale and stayed at the
Ramada Inn Fort Lauderdale Airport/Cruiseport.

We purchased transfers from John's Service and arrived at the
Miami Cruiseport by 10:50AM and were on board by 11:20AM. Everyone
was very helpful and the line moved very quickly.

Lunch was served on the Lido deck, with grilled hamburgers,
hotdogs, chicken, etc. available. By 1PM we were allowed in our
cabins. Our luggage was delivered in a timely manner.

The ship is decorated in the red, white, and blue theme, hence
the name Valor. The ship was clean and attractive. It has the usual
shops onboard with specials running throughout the week.

Food- The food in the dining was overall pretty good, though it
seemed there could have been a wider selection to choose from. You
can order from the "comfort food" list everyday and steak is
available daily, also. Just a quick note- if you are eating in the
dining room for breakfast you have the option of

asking for real, not powdered, scrambled eggs, whereas on the
buffet all that is available is powdered scrambled eggs.

The ham and cheese omelet in the dining room was very good

Lobster was available once, and there were several shrimp dishes
available throughout the week. I ate the flat iron grilled steak
one night and it was very good. .

One thing we thought was odd- when we were in port, after
arriving back on the ship after an excursion, the only available
place to eat was either Italian fare at the buffet, or the deli for
a sandwich.

Entertainment- we like to dance to 70's- 80's music and the only
band playing that type of music was playing in the casino, which
has virtually no dance floor. So that was a disappointment to all
of us. We felt like it had been planned intentionally in order to
draw people to gamble.

The dancers were very good and entertaining, the juggler was
great, as were the other entertainers as well. We did hear
complaints about the "family friendly" comedian not actually being
very "kid friendly" which caused several people to walk out of the
show

The crew- everybody was very friendly- you would not pass a crew
member without them smiling, telling you good morning, etc. Our
cabin steward TokTok was fabulous!

Other services- after 13 cruises, for the first time ever, we
had to use the infirmary. On a windy day my husband was hit with a
lounge chair and needed glued/stitched. They were all very helpful.
They had him come back after our first port stop so they could
clean it and put a new bandage on it.

I have read many stories about how people are treated in the
infirmaries and I have nothing but praise for the medical staff on
the Carnival Valor. We were not even charged for this service.

In the past I would highlight the daily activities I was
interested in doing and this time I did that the first day and then
didn't do it again. It seemed there weren't as many activities
going on, for free, as there used to be. I realize cruise ships
need to make money and the money that is pulled in with gambling,
bingo, drinks, etc. contributes a lot to this purpose so I'm not
saying this practice is wrong but that maybe it should not be the
only activities that are offered.

I can't really say much about the ships shore excursions as we
booked our excursions independently.

We visited Grand Turk, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and St. Kitts.
At Grand Turk we purchased an excursion on our own. We arranged for
rental of 2 golf carts to ride around the island. We used Nathan's
for the rentals and I would not recommend them. When we arrived to
pick up our carts there was a family of 4 that had also arranged to
get a golf cart. There were only 2 carts available. We were told 1
cart had broken down a few weeks before and had not been fixed yet.
My group took the 2 golf carts and one of them was not running
properly. It broke down on us and we ended up pushing it to get it
started again. We were so concerned about getting back to the port
that we cut our day very short and returned the golf carts to the
original starting point.

At St. Kitts we arranged for a tour with Javin's Island Tours.
It was a great day and a wonderful way to see the island. I would
highly recommend using Javin at St. Kitts.Javin is very
knowledgeable and friendly and makes sure everybody

is having a good time.

At St. Maarten and St. Thomas we didn't do any excursion, mainly
walked around.

Overall the cruise was okay. We weren't really disappointed
about anything but just didn't come away with that feeling of
excitement that we usually do after a cruise.

With living in Jacksonville we have taken many cruises on the
Fascination, 4 last year alone. Us and our friends were excited on
this cruise as I said we were celebration a 67th birthday and 39th
wedding anniversary.

Embarkation

We arrived at the terminal, the 6 of us traveled together, and
ll of the luggage was taken and marked as priority (we are all
platinum members) and we proceeded to priory check-in, We waited a
short time and were assigned our cabins and told we could go
directly to them as soon as we boarded the ship and that our
luggage would be waiting. After about a 20 minute wait we boarded
and was shown to our cabins. Two couples did indeed have their
luggage but unfortunately we didn't. Not concerned we went to the
Lido deck for lunch. We returned to the cabin approximately an hour
and half later still no luggage. We went to CS and was told our
luggage wasn't on the ship. We left and came back an our later and
was told to look in 'lost and found' again no luggage. Told again
our luggage was not

on the ship. At 3PM 2 pieces showed up at the cabin. Went back to
CS about the 3rd piece and was told again it wasn't on the ship but
they had until 6:30 to deliver it to the room! Finally at 6PM it
was delivered. Needless to say this didn't set our "special" cruise
off to a good start.

Dining

After getting on the ship we went to the Lido Deck for lunch.
Since there were long lines at the grill and buffet we decided to
have salads and sandwiches, both were wonderful. the salad
ingredients were fresh and crisp. Among the 6 of us, we tried the
corn beef, ruben, pastrami, and turkey, they all were delis!

We didn't utilize the buffet, due to long lines, but was able to
eat from the grill and it was ok but would have been better if the
food had been hot. We did have lunch in the dining room on the last
sea day and it was wonderful. It is sad that it is only open for
lunch on sea days!

We utilized room service for breakfast each day and enjoyed it
on the cabin balcony. We would recommend it

We had late dining and unfortunately our table was in the middle
of 4 tables of 10. These cruisers must have been sailing together
because they spent most of the meal going back in forth to each
others tables. With this being said we were jostled quite a bit.
(we did request another table but were told there were none
available) Our service was spotty, it could have been because of
the number of diners the wait staff was trying to serve, At times
we would have 2 courses set down at one time, items ordered mixed
up or forgotten all together, or long waits (up to 20 minutes)
between items.

Service

Service is spotty all over the ship. We went to the casino bar
and the bartender was so interested in setting up her bar that she
ignored new customers. She finally decided that they weren't going
to leave and waited on them with attitude!

In the buffet on the Lido deck the gentleman cleaning the tables
offered to get more drinks for a table with small children!

Ship Activities

There are many planned activities to do on board besides
enjoying the pools, hot tubs and deck chairs. There are many places
to quietly read or play a game. Also the casino, we did take
advantage of it and saw someone win $1600. unfortunately it wasn't
any of our group!

Entertainment

Since we have cruised a lot on the Fascination we didn't attend
any of the shows but did try to go to the comedy show but with late
dining were unable to get in.

Ports

Freeport isn't one of our favorite ports but there are
excursions that can be booked and a straw market you can go to
right off the ship for things to take home

Nassau is one of our favorite ports. We buy purses and visit
Atlantis. Great place just to wander in, just be watchful as you
would in any port.

Cabin

We had a balcony cabin,E237. Since this is a smaller ship the
cabins tend to be smaller. There is no refrigerator, so it is
difficult to keep anything cold. There is an ice bucket that is
filled twice a day and you can as your cabin steward for more. Our
steward was very attending but didn't speak english very well so my
husband was always asking after he left 'what did he say'

Disembarkation

As platinum members we do have priority disembarkation. This
went very smoothly and the luggage was very easy to find. We were
off the ship and on our way home by 9:15

I hope this helps all cruisers. Just remember you are on
vacation, not at work, so have fun!

We were in a group of six, all of which has cruised several
times on Carnival. We sailed on the Carnival Valor Feb. 3-10,
2013.

We flew in a day early to Fort Lauderdale and stayed at the
Ramada Inn Fort Lauderdale Airport/Cruiseport.

We purchased transfers from John's Service and arrived at the
Miami Cruiseport by 10:50AM and were on board by 11:20AM. Everyone
was very helpful and the line moved very quickly.

Lunch was served on the Lido deck, with grilled hamburgers,
hotdogs, chicken, etc. available. By 1PM we were allowed in our
cabins. Our luggage was delivered in a timely manner.

The ship is decorated in the red, white, and blue theme, hence
the name Valor. The ship was clean and attractive. It has the usual
shops onboard with specials running throughout the week.

Food- The food in the dining was overall pretty good, though it
seemed there could have been a wider selection to choose from. You
can order from the "comfort food" list everyday and steak is
available daily, also. Just a quick note- if you are eating in the
dining room for breakfast you

have the option of asking for real, not powdered, scrambled eggs,
whereas on the buffet all that is available is powdered scrambled
eggs.

The ham and cheese omelet in the dining room was very good

Lobster was available once, and there were several shrimp dishes
available throughout the week. I ate the flat iron grilled steak
one night and it was very good. .

One thing we thought was odd- when we were in port, after
arriving back on the ship after an excursion, the only available
place to eat was either Italian fare at the buffet, or the deli for
a sandwich.

Entertainment- we like to dance to 70's- 80's music and the only
band playing that type of music was playing in the casino, which
has virtually no dance floor. So that was a disappointment to all
of us. We felt like it had been planned intentionally in order to
draw people to gamble.

The dancers were very good and entertaining, the juggler was
great, as were the other entertainers as well. We did hear
complaints about the "family friendly" comedian not actually being
very "kid friendly" which caused several people to walk out of the
show

The crew- everybody was very friendly- you would not pass a crew
member without them smiling, telling you good morning, etc. Our
cabin steward TokTok was fabulous!

Other services- after 13 cruises, for the first time ever, we
had to use the infirmary. On a windy day my husband was hit with a
lounge chair and needed glued/stitched. They were all very helpful.
They had him come back after our first port stop so they could
clean it and but a new bandage on it.

I have read many stories about how people are treated in the
infirmaries and I have nothing but praise for the medical staff on
the Carnival Valor. We were not even charged for this service.

In the past I would highlight the daily activities I was
interested in doing and this time I did that the first day and then
didn't do it again. It seemed there weren't as many activities
going on, for free, as there used to be. I realize cruise ships
need to make money and the money that is pulled in with gambling,
bingo, drinks, etc. contributes a lot to this purpose so I'm not
saying this practice is wrong but that maybe it should not be the
only activities that are offered.

I can't really say much about the ships shore excursions as we
booked our excursions independently.

We visited Grand Turk, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and St. Kitts.
At Grand Turk we purchased an excursion on our own. We arranged for
rental of 2 golf carts to ride around the island. We used Nathan's
for the rentals and I would not recommend them. When we arrived to
pick up our carts there was a family of 4 that had also arranged to
get a golf cart. There were only 2 carts available. We were told 1
cart had broken down a few weeks before and had not been fixed yet.
My group took the 2 golf carts and one of them was not running
properly. It broke down on us and we ended up pushing it to get it
started again. We were so concerned about getting back to the port
that we cut our day very short and returned the golf carts to the
original starting point.

At St. Kitts we arranged for a tour with Javin's Island Tours.
It was a great day and a wonderful way to see the island. I would
highly recommend using Javin at St. Kitts.Javin is very
knowledgeable and friendly and makes sure everybody

is having a good time.

At St. Maarten and St. Thomas we didn't do any excursion, mainly
walked around.

Overall the cruise was okay. We weren't really disappointed
about anything but just didn't come away with that feeling of
excitement that we usually do after a cruise.